Dan pulled out his phone and finished another cup of tea while the Director recovered. After a few moments of struggling, he actually was surprised to find he got some amount of reception. He quickly called Phoenix while he still had a connection.
"Dan? Hello? Are you there?"
"Yeah Nicky, I am. Not sure where I am at the moment but I'm all right."
"What do you mean? Are you still in the base?"
"No idea, at the moment," Dan said, looking around. "I don't think I'm in the base any more... might not even be on Equestria. You remember that creepy cloaked pony from the CE?"
"Yeah, the one who said we had to rescue Sam."
"Yeah, well he showed up again. Or she. Or... something. The Director intercepted me in the base and warped me to somewhere else. I have no idea where it is or how far away I am."
"That's not good."
"Tell me about it." As Dan spoke on the phone, the Director hovered out of the house towards him. And she didn't look happy.
"You defiled the Paradise Estate!"
Dan paused, looked at the floating, cloaked creature and said, "I'll call you back, Nicky."
"Be careful, Dan." *click*
"You defiled the Paradise Estate!" the Director yelled again.
Dan cast a glance around them. "Lady, have you seen this place? Your house was defiled long before I came here. I mean, seriously, it looks like Barbie's Malibu Beach house after it was hit by an earthquake. And a tornado."
"This is sacred ground!"
"And a riot."
"SHUT UP!" she yelled in his face. The human was silenced as she hovered less than an inch from him, teeth gritted, eyes glowing red with rage. She huffed for a few moments, then slowly began to regain her composure. The creature giggled. "Good one!"
"Good... what?" Dan asked, now more confused.
"As I said, I have a proposition for you," the Director said, floating down into the seat next to his again. The tea kettle and cup hovered behind her and appeared to prepare themselves. But instead, they simply poured their contents on the ground and then flew away in a bizarre, spinning fashion. "I was wondering if we could make a trade," she leaned in, intently.
"What, uh, what kind of trade exactly?"
"A prisoner exchange, of sorts." She snapped her fingers. General Sharp Winter appeared, suspended in midair by two swirling rings. It happened so abruptly, Dan nearly fell out of his chair as he scrambled to get out of the way. The pegasus general spun slowly, eyes closed as if unconscious or sleeping.
"That's... where did you get him?! Wait, in the base..." he remembered back to when Sharp had disappeared. "Was that...?"
The Director nodded. "Part of the Enclave's agreement for using our equipment was that they obey us, or rather, me, unconditionally. But, you defeated him fair and square, so now he's your piece."
Dan shook his head in disbelief. "The buck are you even talking about?"
"Heeheehee, spoils to the victor, silly," she said. "This is you versus Vice Grip. You have your pieces, he has his. He beat Celestia, Luna and five of the Mane Six, so he has those pieces. You beat Gust and his fleet and now Sharp Winter and his Enclave. Now, I propose a trade."
"Pieces..." Dan repeated. "Those... these are real, live people you're talking about! Well... ponies, mostly and the bird guys-"
"Griffons."
"Yeah, those but you're talking like they're toys or something!"
She smiled. "Ah, finally, you understand. Took Vice a while to get it, too."
"I... I-I..." he stammered, still stunned in disbelief. This was all a game to her, a literal game! But not one she was playing, one that she was WATCHING. The sickness was enough to make him practically vomit. Nope... he actually did throw up a bit. "Haagh... tha... that's disgusting. You... you are disgusting."
The Director shrugged. "I'm a practical... something, Dan. But I'm also fair. Vice has some big advantages over you so I just do my best to even things out a bit."
Practical... yeah, that was one way of looking at it. He braced himself on the chair as he recovered. At the very least, he knew a little bit more of how the Director thought. Individuals were just toys to her. It wasn't a very original mindset but appeared to be one she'd taken to the fullest and dove off the deep end with. In fact, even the Paradise Estate seemed to look like a toy playset of some kind upon closer inspection. And thinking back... even Halberd Base did. How much of this was her doing?
He looked up at the dangling pony. "Ah... uh..., you said we were trading."
She nodded. "I did."
Dan wiped his mouth off and regained his strength, steadying himself. "So, if that's my.... piece... where's yours? Or Vice's?"
The Director raised her other hand and snapped her opposite fingers. After a brief flash of light, an object illuminated the area, spinning next to the general. Dan recognized exactly what it was.
"A Sword Spell?" Dan asked, looking at the red horn-shaped missile.
"The same one from Hearth's Warm-err, Christmas," she said, smiling. "The only one left at the moment since your influence changed the others into harmless fireworks."
The red warhead glowed just as it did those months ago. Inside, darker red spheres, potent orbs of magic, bobbed up and down as if they were suspended in a constantly-fluctuating liquid. "What am I going to do with a bomb?" Dan asked, looking at it.
"Whatever you want to do with it," she cooed. "Use it... destroy Vice and all his machines. Or, give it to Twilight so she can study it... and unlock its secrets," a malevolent smile spread across her face.
Dan raised an eyebrow. "And what would you have me do with it? Why is Sharpy here more important to you than your last ICBM?"
"That's not part of the deal," the Director said sternly. "But know this- if you decline, you'll be throwing away your best chance to defend against Vice Grip's threats."
The human grinned and folded his arms. "No dice, little blue darkling hood. Besides, I know two mares that can make any bomb there is, so I'll get me a Sword Spell eventually."
The Director scowled. "So be it. I've distracted you long enough anyway."
Dan's face went pale. "Distracted?"
Without another word, she snapped her fingers and both Sharp Winter and the Sword Spell disappeared. "Well, I suppose it's time you rejoined your friends, Dan. I enjoyed this little conversation."
"Yeah, and I enjoyed using your crapper," Dan said, grinning. "Almost reminds me of Blueblood's golden outhouse only not as tacky."
She scowled again. "You're lucky I need you to make them see." She rose her hands and Dan began to feel himself being pulled back. "There's only ever been one of you."
He fought against the pull. The vortex appeared behind him; he didn't need to look over his shoulder to see it. The wind whipped around him, sucked into the portal that was dragging him in. He braced against it. "What do you mean make them see?!"
She didn't answer him. Even as the vortex pulled on him more and more, finally sucking him into it, all he heard was the Director's echoing laughter.
Heck yeah! They can make ya one, that can explode into tacos and powered by hot sauce
Maybe, idk
Awesome chapter man, awesome chapter!
Yeah, i can see them managing to make a sword spell on their own.
For some reason my mind keeps imagining the Director as a Burmecian from ff9.
Huh, sacred ground. Interesting.
You know, every time I re-read the Christmas episode I wonder 'what happened to that big ol' bomb?' Now I don't have to wonder anymore! Not sure if that's a good thing though, if the Director can just magic it out of thin air then definitely not!
Ooh and you made Dan reference how Paradise Estate looks like a play set, thank you
But dat ending:
Who the buck is they? I apologise for the swear but she/he is driving me crazy with her multiple personality fuelled riddles! ARGH!!! Whelp, gots mah Dan fix for the weekend, thank you!
An eternally grateful reader always, see you next chapter
P.S Dan's little jab at the Director cracked me up:
HAH! Also now I know the Director wears a blue cloak I love him/her even more ^_^
P.P.S Though seriously Big D, if it was sacred ground ya shoulda put a lock on the door! Not that that woulda stopped Dan but still!
Even worse when your hardest enemy not only uses everything you know as a game, but merely as a distraction.
Just how many 4th walls can the Director back up relative to Pinkie?
7629554 I was honestly thinking the Director might need different cloaks. Maybe dark blue, a white wintery one, and also she has her own anti-version just like Dan did from the mirror universe. The Conductor's cloak is definitely a light blue/turquoise color. What do you think? Should she have more than one cloak or just keep the same one?
Anyone else who might be reading this, feel free to answer as well. This story belongs to everypony!
>> BarroBroadcaster I've never thought about it before but that would be a fun Easter Egg, only if you don't mind mentioning it though! I've just always assumed the Director was wearing a Darth Lord-style black cloak for some reason, must be the fact she gave the Enclave those bad-guy ships (I can't remember the name sorry, not nearly as much a Star Wars fan as I am a FiM or Dan fan).
Maybe, lie a mood ring, the colour of cloak the Director wears could hint at the current threat level or what is gonna happen next. Saying that it would be funny because according to my mood ring chart Yellow = Fear haha! Hmm, maybe a mixture of 2 colours, eg the Winter blue with a red trim around the cuffs and skirt part if she's mad? Just tossing an idea, if it doesn't fly then that's cool. No matter what colour Director-Cleo wears she still my fav mysterious 'bad' character.
Thanks for this note, got some bad news about a family friend but Dan Vs and MLP brightens my day no matter what. Laters ^_^
7641197 Oh, it's perfectly fine. Dan's knowledge of Star Wars equates to just the one time he saw the movies in theaters, an arcade game and some toys from the 80s.
As far as the Director being the sort of Dark Lord character, that's kind of what we were going for. She's based off Darth Traya/Kreia, a character from KoTOR 2 which is a Star Wars video game. Like Kreia, the Director is characterized as a character so dark she hates other dark characters and villains, seeking to destroy both because she feels the entire world has betrayed her.
It's a parallel to Dan's view of things- Vice, Dan and the Director both hate the things about their respective worlds. Vice hates Equestria, Dan hates most of Earth and the Director hates both with such an unyielding passion that it nearly consumes her every thought. Her desire is to see both burn and to have fun in the process... why is another story. They all three deal with their feelings in different ways. Dan fought to change the system in small battles, Vice is fighting to overthrow his government and the Director is trying to destroy all life as we know it.
But yes, there are a lot of Star Wars references, mostly alluding to the books that inspired me to become a writer in the first place and my own other stories. They are just nods, even if they impact the story sometimes heavily. Think of them as place fillers for something we'd usually come up with that's original but instead decide to borrow something from somewhere else because it's fan fiction. Of course, we do come up with our own "original" designs sometimes like the Flutterbirds and Captain Springer so there's an even mix of fandom-random and original canon. We're also planning on throwing in a couple Digimon scene for a certain fan :rarity wink: Probably involving Agumon and Renamon showing up during Fluff's story.
I'm very sorry about your family friend but thank you for the input. My sincerest condolences to you, dear LadyLeomon. I will do my best to always be here and make sure there's a story here to brighten your day!
>> BarroBroadcaster Wow, the more you hint at Director-Cleo's history the more I wanna know! But that would mean the main plot is over and we're speeding toward the Finale, and I never want this to end
All the Star Wars are as much a nostalgia trip as MLP is as a whole, just because I'm not a big Star Wars fan doesn't mean I don't remember them. The old Yoda scared the heck outta me! I liked Annakin and his padawan Ahsoka in SWTCW but that's about it ... oh and R2-D2! A true fan I am not! If the Empire had a fleet of Flutterbirds then maybe they wouldn't have lost so badly! Then Captain Springer would have knocked CP-3O out cold with her attitude alone (overall useless but funny to see)!
Ooh more character crossovers, you really spoil us! As much as I love Digimon it has always ended up disappointing me, I didn't have the interest to keep watching after Tamers. As my name hints you can guess who my overall favourite Digimon is, him an a tiny white Digimon from Tamers. Both of them could do such brilliant cameos! Calumon because he's adorable and Leomon because I thought his partner was a cute match so why not match him with Flufflepuff for a scene? Too kawaii either way! Just my opinion, whichever crossover companion you choose I'll love it irregardless
Thank you for the well wishes, it was so unexpected I think I'm still in that 'no way' phase. Sadly, gotta push onwards right?
Like always thanks for the awesome story and for brightening my week with each new chapter ^_^
That's a very powerful thing to say.